Bhakti and the Bhakti Movement: A New Perspective.

by Krishna Sharma
Review by: David N. Lorenzen
The Journal of Asian Studies, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Aug., 1989), pp. 665-666
Published by: Association for Asian Studies
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 BOOK REVIEWS-SOUTH ASIA 665

In any case, the idea of an independent GreaterBengal had no mass appeal among
either the Bengali Muslims or the Hindus. The Muslim League's demand for the
partition of India on the basis of the separate nationhood of the Indian Muslims (a
goal that not even the Suhrawardyfaction seems to have challenged) left little room
for a noncommunal independent Bengal (not to speak of an independent "East Pak-
istan"!). Lord Mountbatten was thus perhaps right in suggesting that there was no
logic for such a move at that stage. Whether Jinnah supported the idea is immaterial;
it had little to do with the nationalisticaspirationsof the Bengalis and basicallyreflected
a conflict among the inner leadership of the Provincial Muslim League. Clearly and
understandably,Rashid has tried to adjust his thesis about Bengal Muslim politics in
the 1930s and 1940s to support his own view of the national identity of Bangladesh.
In my opinion, this is the weakest point in the book.
The bibliography is extensive, but it coverssources almost exclusively in English.
Although a few Bengali works are mentioned, this is hardly adequate. Nor has much
use been made of Bengali newspapersand magazines, which could have provided useful
information, particularlyon the attitudes of the intelligentsia toward the GreaterBen-
gal issue. But, on the whole, the book is a welcome study of Muslim politics in colonial
India. The author has managed to rendera complicatedsubject in clear, unpretentious
language and has brought into focus the incongruities of the Pakistan idea. In many
instances, he succeeds admirably in correcting misconceptions about the Bengali-
speaking Muslim leadership. This is especially true of his treatment of A. K. Fazlul
Huq and the Krishak Praja Party. One could only wish that a little more attention
had been paid to the religious leaders who provided a vital link between the urban
politicians and the peasantry.
RAFIUDDIN AHMED
Universityof Chicago

Bhakti and the Bhakti Movement:

A New Perspective. By KRISHNA SHARMA.
New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal, 1987. xviii, 342 pp.

Krishna Sharmahas written a thoughtful and original book. Both its virtues and
its flaws are major. Sharma has set out to deconstruct (without any reference to de-
constructionism) the concept of bhakti religion as it was conceived by mostly European
indologists. She argues that "Bhakti is neither a cult, nor a doctrine.... Explanations
of bhakti as a monotheism (as opposed to monism) involve a misrepresentationof the
nature of Hindu monotheism.... Nirguna-bhakti has its own rationale.... The jux-
taposition of Saiikara'sAdvaita Vedantaand bhakti, and that of bhakti and jfiana, is
unwarranted.... Ramanuja,Nimbarka, Madhvaand Vallabhacharyawere not the ini-
tiators of any doctrine of bhakti as such" (p. xiv).
This deconstructive agenda is directed in the first instance against the Christian-
influencedmonotheistic enthusiasmsof earlyWesternscholarsand of the Indian scholars
who uncritically followed their lead. Sharma convincingly argues that these scholars
constructed a devotional, monotheistic Hinduism largely in Christianity's image and
then elevated this construct to an unjustified preeminence over, and in isolation from,
the monistic currentsof Hinduism. She proposes that bhakti be understoodas a broad
generic term, which in the Hindu context can be applied to both nirguna-monist and
sagz*na-monotheisticforms of devotion.
Like most sustained polemics, Sharma'sassertionsare sometimes overdrawnand,
more important, often display the influence of her own ideological commitment to the

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666 THE JOURNAL OF ASIAN STUDIES

devotionally and nationalistically tinged version of Advaita Vedanta associated with

such modern intellectuals as Swami Vivekananda and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan. A
few examples are worthy of comment.
Sharma sometimes redefines words to suit her own purposes. For instance, she
suggests that Advaita propounds nirgunamonotheism (ratherthan calling it monism)
in orderpartly to blur the contrastwith the sagunamonotheism of the Vaishnavaacaryas.
Similarly,Sharmaconflatesthe definitions of bhakti attributed to Sanikarain the Viveka-
cudamani("the search for one's own essential form" [svasvarz7pdnusandhdnam1) with the
more commonsense emotional-devotionaldefinitions given by the Vaishnavaacaryas.
Again, she attempts to reduce the contrast between dstika and nastika to "theist" and
"atheist," too hastily passing over both the realist-nihilist and orthodox (true)-heretic
(not true) contrasts implicit in these terms.
The influence of Neo-Advaita is also evident in Sharma'sportrayalof Sanikaraas
an ecumenical advocate of both bhakti and jn-ana. She claims that Sanikarasaw no
important contradiction between these concepts but simply chose to emphasizejiana
over bhakti. Even if we accept the Viveka-cudamani's definition of bhakti, this claim
is not sustainable. Also highly debatableis Sharma'sattempt to associate, if not quite
identify, the Advaita of Saiikarawith the nirguga bhakti of Kabir. Although both
Saiikaraand Kabir undoubtedly did adopt an impersonal nirgunaconception of the
Absolute, it is hard to see any other significant similarity between the highly discursive
jnana margametaphysics of Sailkaraand the emotive nirgunamysticism of Kabir, not
to mention their radically opposed social visions.
Sharmaoccasionallyfails to cite important researchrelevantto the topics at hand.
For instance, she should have noted that P. Hacker and S. Mayeda have shown that
the two main works she uses to demonstrateSaiikara'ssympathyfor bhakti (the Viveka-
cuddmaniand the Sarva-siddhdnta-sangraha) were probablyworks of later authors. Like-
wise, Sharma'slong bibliographymentions few of the recent studies of Hinduism that
try to move beyond the older bhakti-religion paradigm she justly criticizes. Despite
these limitations, Sharma'sprovocativestudy of bhakti and the bhakti movement will
have to be taken into account in future academic discussions.
DAVID N. LORENZEN
El Colegiode Me'xico

Universals:
Studiesin IndianLogicandLinguistics. By FRITS STAAL. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 1988. x, 267 pp. $47.50 (cloth); $18.95
(paper).

This reprintof some of Frits Staal'swork containstwelve chapters-seven on Indian

logic, five on Indian linguistics-and seven reviews. These are preceded by an intro-
duction in which Staal discusses his ideas concerning universalsand briefly introduces
the material that is reprinted, relating it to his major themes.
Staal explains that this collection does three things. First, it gives a new inter-
pretation of W. V. 0. Quine's "indeterminacyof translation,"an interpretation that
"providesaccessto a universeof analyticdiscourseoutside Westernanalyticalphilosophy
and shows how not to isolate philosophy from ongoing researchin the human sciences,
especially in Asian studies." In addition, "the book demonstratesthat Indian pa!.dits
discovered the same universals that were discovered in the West." Finally, "it argues
that the Western humanities and social sciences will have to learn from Asia before
they can be of assistance in paving the way to the common future of mankind" (p.

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